


Red bands

by KieranGila



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien is conflicted but wants to be supportive, Adrigami is mentioned, Comforting Adrien/Chat Noir, Crush Reveal, Emotional Marinette/Ladybug, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Ladrien sort of, LadyNoir - Freeform, Light Angst, Marinette/Ladybug breakdown, Marinette/Ladybug with hair down, Sad Marinette/Ladybug, adrigami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 08:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23848345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KieranGila/pseuds/KieranGila
Summary: Big bold red lettering that read, “Adrien’s new girlfriend? Who is she?” flashed onto the screen.Chat snickered.“Wow. That model boy really is everywhere.” He said smiling.“Right Lady-“ he looked over at his partner.“...Bug?”
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 4
Kudos: 110





	Red bands

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this Instagram post —> https://www.instagram.com/p/B3zgbbdHW0V/?igshid=ladw2dvchqwm

Chat noir and Ladybug were sat on the top of a roof near the Eiffel Tower watching the news on a small tablet. 

The bright screen in the night had went black before quickly popping back onto a screen with big bold red lettering that read, “Adrien’s new girlfriend? Who is she?”

Chat snickered. 

“Wow. That model boy really is everywhere.” Chat said smiling.

“Right Lady-“ he looked over at his partner.

“Bug?” Chat saw her dejected face with a silent tear rolling across the side of her jawline.

He watched as her shoulders slumped and her throat bobbed a little, her chest rising and falling erratically. 

He positioned his body so he was directly across from her. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”

Ladybug sighed and wiped the tear away solemnly. She looked down at her lap and played with her fingers anxiously. She tried to smile. 

“I don’t know, guess I kinda took a little liking to Adrien, and it just stings a little seeing he’s got a girlfriend now, you know?”

Chat’s eyes just about popped out from his behind his mask.

She has a crush on Adrien?

He carefully chose what to say next, not liking the silence. “You have a crush on Adrien? This whole time, he was the ‘other boy’?”

He was baffled, and hearing her sniffle and wipe her eyes again didn’t help.

“I know we aren’t supposed to reveal personal information like this, but considering he’s finally got a girlfriend, and almost everyone in Paris has a crush on him, yeah, I do.. did.”

They sat in silence as their minds consumed them, Chat about his sudden uncertainty and doubt in his choices, and Ladybug in heartbreak and sorrow.

Ladybug finally broke the silence with a broken voice. She found it hard to breathe as her throat closed in. 

“But that’s not why I like him, not because he’s a model. In fact he’s so much more than that. He’s charming, funny, helpful, determined, and not to mention adorable... it’s hard not to fall in love with him.”

Ladybug turned away to wipe the seemingly never ending waterfall of tears collecting in her eyes and falling down her freckled cheeks.

Chat looked away to blush, but also felt his eyelids begin to dampen. 

Kagami’s a great girl, I chose her for a reason. She didn’t hesitate. She comes from a strong family and I couldn’t ask for better... But the girl of my dreams revealing she’s been in love with me–Adrien, the entire time? 

“How can you be in love with him? You barely see him.. or know him.” 

Most of the times she had seen him or came in contact with him was when he was in danger. Why would she want someone like that?

Adrien tried, he really tried to convince himself he made the right choice. 

He knew there was no way they could be together. That would require him to reveal his identity. And Ladybug would never fall in love with Chat Noir. It was hopeless. Unless he willingly tossed Kagami to the side to pursue the dream he’s always wanted, to be happy with Ladybug until the end of time. And he couldn’t, he wouldn’t do that. It was hopeless. 

“That’s.. that’s the thing. I’m around him so much, in my civilian form that is. But I feel the only way I could ever really talk to him or be with him is if I’m Ladybug.. because I know he wouldn’t like the girl under the mask.”

“But how can you be so sure? A lady as amazing and strong like you could never pass the eye of someone like Adrien, or anyone really.”

Ladybug sighed, she really wished her transformation would run out soon, so she could get out of there quick.

“I’m sure. Trust me. The girl he’s with right now. Kagami Tsurugi’s her name. She’s strong, talented, athletic. Everything Ladybug is, but I’m not.” 

She wiped her hands down her face and buried her head in her palms, resting against her bent knees. 

“But.. but you are Ladybug. I’m positive whoever you are underneath that mask is just as exceptional as you are.. What you have and how to you act, that’s not something that just comes with the costume. I don’t believe Ladybug and your civilian form are much different. And as much as you may think you’re not smart, funny, strong, athletic, or talented, I just know it’s there deep inside you. You’re special. With or without the mask.”

Ladybug looked over at her masked partner. She felt her eyes well up in tears again, this time, not over Adrien, but over Chat. She really couldn’t have asked for a better partner in crime. 

Before she could even comprehend what she as doing, she lurched across and latched herself to Chat, much to his surprise.

Chat wrapped his arms around the trembling superhero. He’s only ever seen her like this once, but this time it was different. It wasn’t over any akuma fight or battle. He’s so used to seeing her be so strong and put together. But a superhero is still a human, no matter how super. He held onto her as if trying to protect her.. from the world, from Adrien, from him. 

Then she snapped. Not trying to hide her sadness or her tears, not her heartbreak or her regrets. 

In the quiet night of Paris, the whisper of cars over the cobblestone streets, the gentle spur of bicycle wheels on the pavement, the crushed and devastated sobs of Marinette, could all be heard wavering in the air. 

For a while, they stay wrapped up within each other. His mother used to run her nimble fingers through his soft blond locks as a child. Sifting under and over the golden strands. 

Chat ran his clawed fingers through Ladybug’s hair, and was pleasantly met with the knowledge that unlike the rest of her costume, her hair ties did in fact come off. 

Adrien pushed the ties over his hand and settled them onto his wrist, creating two lines of bright red against the dark of his suit. The ribbon part of her ties sticking out as if still in her hair. 

He felt guilty, embracing with the girl who was not his, yet who he still loved. But when it came to Adrien and Chat Noir, he saw them and lived them as two different people. 

And now he understood why Ladybug did too.

He hated himself as Adrien, he never would’ve thought Ladybug would’ve fallen for someone like him. Even before he wielded the black cat miraculous, Adrien felt he was living a double life. 

But as Chat Noir, he felt unstoppable. Like he was on top of the world, but now, he felt like he was slowly sinking down instead. 

Ladybug’s cries ceased as his sharp nails ran across her scalp and lifted small parts of her dark silky hair into the air, before letting them fall back down. 

The cold air bit her exposed skin, as she was trying to understand and make sense of the situation. 

She felt guilty, embracing with someone who she knows loves her–or at least used to, when she was crying over a boy who would never love her.

It didn’t matter right now though. She’s lived her life to the fullest up until now without Adrien liking her back, it shouldn’t be too hard of a challenge to do the same now, right?

She had plenty of people who loved her as both Ladybug and Marinette, and one day she’d realize there was no difference between the two.

With the help of Chat, of course.

So with realization and understanding slowly coming back to her, she sat back up, and curled her knees to her chest once again. 

Ladybug wasn’t an immature pre-teen anymore. With maturity comes compassion and understanding. She vowed herself to be strong. The only way to keep her integrity now was to simply move over the bump in the road, no matter how hard it set her path off. 

She couldn’t ask Adrien to give up his perfectly happy, healthy, and loving relationship for a superhero who he probably thought only liked him for his status.

Chat pursed his lips as he gazed longingly at the broken girl sitting across from him on the mismatched and protruding roof. He could see she was having her own little Cold War inside her head. No fighting, no violence, just unbearable tension. But he still couldn’t seem to put her back together. 

He could still imagine the feeling of her gorgeous hair in between his fingertips. He missed it. He missed her. He longed for the girl he knew he could never have. 

“So what’re you going to do now?” 

Ladybug stood up and dusted herself off, then let the crisp air rid her of anymore tears. She couldn’t cry anymore, not to her Chaton at least.

Her next words sounded like a question more than a statement, like she was still uncertain of what her answer was. 

“I think.. I think it’s time for me to change targets.” 

With that, Chat’s heart could audibly be heard dropping. The pulse battered at the uneven and clunky tiles beneath him. 

Of course, she has every right to move on. She’s moving on, I’ve moved on.. right?

Even if Ladybug changing targets meant that there was a slight chance she would finally fall for Chat the same way he fell for her, he knew and hated the fact that it still would never work. He had Kagami, as both Adrien and Chat. It’d be selfish for him to live out a separate love life as Adrien and Chat Noir.

Both her earrings and his ring beeped simultaneously, signaling not just the end of their night. 

Chat frowned and hooked his fingers around the elastic to retrieve her hair ties from his wrist. 

He was about to stand to give them back, but she stopped him. 

Ladybug held his extended hand in hers, and curled her hands around his knuckles to close his fingers around the red ties. 

She let go and with a small voice accompanied by mute sadness, she finally spoke. 

“Keep them.. and thank you, for finally letting my hair down, Chat.” 

With his balled fist still present, Ladybug peered down for a moment before making a fist of her own and softly colliding their knuckles together, muttering a silent, “pound it”, before disappearing into the darkness.


End file.
